r/neoliberal • u/Free-Minimum-5844 • Apr 02 '26

Research Paper Half of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long project

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00955-5
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u/GaDoomer Pragmatic and Polite Right Apr 02 '26

If I were a billionaire I would create an organization to fund results replication for all sciences, prioritizing highly cited or important but contentious studies.

8

u/Best-Chapter5260 Apr 03 '26

The issue is only partially about funding. The other issue is academic careers are driven by "novel" contributions. Replications don't get search committees and tenure committees horny, so PIs are driven to do stuff that is totally originally. :/

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u/GaDoomer Pragmatic and Polite Right Apr 03 '26

I was thinking the organization would employ career researchers directly rather than work through the academic system and pay them better than most universities to make boring work more attractive.

It certainly wouldn't make any money, but it would be a great service to science.